The present invention relates to mobile equipment such as a mobile telephone, and more particularly to a holding structure for an internal battery which can be attached and removed.
Conventionally, there has been a holding structure for an internal battery which can be attached and removed as shown in FIG. 8. As shown in FIG. 8, an internal battery 42 is accommodated in a battery housing portion 44 concaved on a rear case 41 of a mobile telephone, and a battery cover 43 is then attached to the rear case 41 from above. Thus, the internal battery 42 is built in the mobile telephone. In the following description, a longitudinal direction of the rear case 41 is referred to as a vertical direction, a direction which is orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the rear case 41 along a bottom face of the battery housing portion 44 is referred to as a transverse direction, and a direction which is perpendicular to the bottom face of the battery housing portion 44 is referred to as a height direction. Moreover, the side turned upward during the use of the mobile telephone is referred to as a front portion and the side turned downward is referred to as a rear portion.
The battery housing portion 44 is concaved to have the shape of an almost rectangular parallelepiped over the surface of the rear case 41. A bottom face is provided with a connector opening 45 and an internal wall surface on a front end is provided with one fitting hole 47. Moreover, a pair of second engagement projections 49 are provided in a rear edge portion 41B of the rear case 41. The internal battery 42 has the external shape of an almost rectangular parallelepiped. When the internal battery 42 is accommodated in the battery housing portion 44, a wire 46 is led out in an optional position. A fitting projection 50 is provided on the front end of the battery cover 43 and a pair of ribs (not shown) to be engaged with the second engagement projections 49 are provided on the back face of the rear edge portion.
In the mobile telephone having such a structure, first of all, the wire 46 of the internal battery 42 is connected to a connector provided in the connector opening 45, and a cable of the wire 46 and the internal battery 42 are accommodated in the battery housing portion 44. Next, a fitting projection 50 on the tip of the battery cover 43 is opposed to the fitting hole 47 provided on the front end of the battery housing portion 44 and the battery cover 43 is slid forward and is thus attached to the rear case 41.
FIG. 9 is a sectional view showing a state in which the attachment is completed. As shown in FIG. 9, the wire 46 led out of the internal battery 42 is connected to a connector 53 provided on a printed circuit board 51 and the power of the internal battery 42 is supplied to each portion of the mobile telephone through the wire 46 and the connector 53. Moreover, the fitting projection 50 provided on the tip of the battery cover 43 is elastically deformed when it is to be inserted into the fitting hole 47. After the insertion, an engagement click provided upward on the tip of the fitting projection 50 catches in the internal wall surface of the rear case on the upper side of the fitting hole 47. Moreover, a pair of ribs 54 provided on the back face of the rear edge portion of the battery cover 43 are engaged with the second engagement projections 49.
However, the conventional internal battery holding structure described above has the following problems (1) to (3).
(1) Since it is necessary to connect the wire 46 of the internal battery 42 to the connector 53, the attachment takes a great deal of time and labor. Moreover, when the internal battery 42 is to be taken out, it is necessary to remove the wire 46 and a great deal of time and labor is similarly taken.
(2) The internal battery 42 is only held by the internal face of the battery cover 43 and is not held in the rear case 41 by itself. Therefore, when the batter cover 43 slips off due to a shock such as a drop, the internal battery 42 also jumps out of the battery housing portion 44 so that an appearance is deteriorated. In that case, moreover, if the wire 46 slips out of the connector 53, a power source is turned off. Furthermore, there is a possibility that the wire 46 might be cut or the connector 53 might be broken.
(3) Since the shock of the internal battery 42 is directly transmitted to the battery cover 43, the battery cover 43 is easily broken.
In consideration of such problems, the present invention has been made and has an object to provide an internal battery holding structure in mobile equipment in which an internal battery can be attached and removed easily and does not jump out even if a battery cover slips off due to a shock such as a drop.
The present invention provides an internal battery holding structure in mobile equipment comprising a case having a battery housing portion, an internal battery to be accommodated in the battery housing portion and a battery cover to be attached to cover the battery housing portion, wherein the internal battery is formed to have a shape of an almost rectangular parallelepiped, has an electrode terminal provided on one of ends in a vertical direction thereof and has an engagement projection provided on the other end in the vertical direction, the battery housing portion is concaved to have the shape of the almost rectangular parallelepiped in the case, has a pressing connector provided on one of ends in a vertical direction thereof and has, on the other end in the vertical direction, a battery hook for pressing the engagement projection interlockingly with a sliding operation from a release position to a lock position, and the battery hook is slid from the release position to the lock position to press the engagement projection, thereby causing the electrode terminal to abut on the pressing connector and fixing the internal battery to the battery housing portion. By such a structure, the electrode terminal of the internal battery is pressed against the pressing connector so that electrical connection can be obtained. Therefore, the internal battery can be attached and removed easily. Moreover, the internal battery can be held by one of the ends in the vertical direction of the battery housing portion and the battery hook. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the internal battery from jumping out even if the battery cover slips off due to a shock such as a drop.